Friday, January 18, 2013

Christian Book Review: Cruel Harvest: A Memoir by Fran Grubb

From the book:
"Get out here, now, or I'm gonna kill you!" he hollered.

Little girls are hardwired to hold their daddies in high esteem, so it comes as a shock the first time a daughter feels the back of her daddy's hand across her face . . . or watches him punch and kick her mother to within an inch of her life.

How could this be? Her older sisters teach her how to survive, even when he comes for her in the night.

A girl learns to become invisible, to look the other way, to say nothing when a curious stranger asks if she's okay. To lie. To expect nothing, not even from relatives.

To cry without tears.

To pray silently.

When she is fourteen, and weary, a girl begins to wish she were dead. Cruel Harvest is the compelling story of how she lived instead.

My review:
It was very hard for me to read this heart-wrenching story. The trust between a little girl and her Daddy is like no other relationship. There is an inherent trust and when it is broken, it's like the world ended! For Fran Grubb, it didn't take long to learn that to love her Daddy was to experience hurt, pain and embarrassment ...often.

From the time she was a little girl, all Fran knew was to hide from her father when he was mad or drunk... which was often. Her mother tried to help them enjoy life and let them know there was still joy in this world but it became more and more difficult. Her sisters tried to protect her but there was only so much they could do. Fran and her sisters and brother endured the harsh treatment of their father, not being able to go to school, having to work cotton fields, apple orchards, constantly moving, for all of their young lives, until one by one they escaped. One by one.

For a life story, Cruel Harvest reminds us how we need to look after our neighbors. So many people had contact with these children but somehow they never received the help they need. Fran Grubbs was "lucky" but there are so many children who are not. She chose to use her experience to help others and now goes around the country singing, speaking and raising money for her charity, Feed the Hungry Children.

This book is certainly not an easy read, but it is well written and flows nicely.

From a Christian perspective, it's a wonderful example of God's redeeming love and the freedom received from forgiving others. God bless Fran Grub and her husband Wayne for sharing this story and choosing to bless others thus breaking the chain of abuse. For more info about Fran Grubbs you can go to her website www.frangrubb.com

About Me

Just to introduce myself, I'm a wife to one :-), Mom to three and Grandma to three. We live on the East Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region. Beside spending time in the Word, I also like to read a variety of books, digital scrapbook, spend time outdoors and photography. You can read my blog here: Take a Walk With Me